Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Garnishment

Abstract definitions of Garnishment:

"A garnishment is a means of collecting a monetary judgment against a defendant by ordering a third party (the garnishee) to pay money, otherwise owed to the defendant, directly to the plaintiff." - Wikipedia

gar·nish·ment NOUN: 1. Law

a. A legal proceeding whereby money or property due a debtor but in the possession of another is applied to the payment of the debt owed to the plaintiff.

b. A court order directing a third party who holds money or property belonging to a defendant to withhold it and appear in court to answer inquiries.

A specific example of Garnishment:

You got sued and they took you to court. You wore a shirt and tie and showed up when it was demanded, and you worked hard at not saying anything too stupid in front of the judge. The judge decided that you owed Visa $7,134.32, and that was about right by your figures, including all the outrageous penalties.

The problem is that you don't have $7,134.32 to pay Visa. On a good day your checking account averages out at about $314.17 and you're living from paycheck to paycheck if there's a paycheck. You don't own any real estate or anything else of great value, except for a box of old gold coins that you have buried under the manure pile on your brother's farm. The Visa Company can't exactly sneak onto your brother's farm and grab the gold, however much they'd like to. They have to do it legal.

So, Visa has its lawyer cause a garnishment summons be delivered to you brother telling him to cough up the box of gold coins under his manure pile, or go to jail for contempt of court. His choice. Or maybe they send over a deputy sheriff in rubber boots with a shovel to dig up the gold more directly.

Either way, that's a garnishment. It is an odd and unusual example, but it's a garnishment nonetheless. A garnishment proceeding can apply to virtually anything with market value, unless it is exempt from execution. Exemptions will be discussed elsewhere. More normal examples of garnishment are bank garnishment and wage garnishment.